Matthew 2:15"Out of Egypt I called my son."We read in the Torah that before entering the Promised Land, Moses warns for eventual kings of Israel not to, cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the LORD has said to you, 'You shall never return that way again' (Deuteronomy 117:16). Abraham settled in Egypt because of financial distress (Genesis 12:10). His grandson Jacob also brought the whole nation of Israel birthed from his loins to Egypt because of famine (Genesis 47). Up to the times of the Roman Empire Egypt was the place of wealth and plenty, of comfort and ease. It was also the center of idolatry with a culture and lifestyle in opposition to God’s ways.The Almighty had reversed the trend started by the patriarchs. He was finally going to give His first-born Israel a country of his own so the people could settle and live in Hashem’s ways. Hashem warns them: “do not let trade and comfort tempt your future king to make you return to Egypt”. If we remember, this was the constant temptation in the desert. As soon as something went wrong they cried, “Oh my, why have we left the comfort of Egypt?” Trade and comfort is also what made Lot, Abraham’s nephew leave his uncle’s side for the wicked city of Sodom.This warning seems to echo through time on deaf ears when nearly a thousand years later we read that in spite all of Jeremiah’s pleading and reminding, the remnant from the Babylonian exile seeks refuge in the arms of Pharaoh (Jeremiah 42).As believers and followers of our Master Yeshua, we are destined to problems, trials, tests, even to suffering. This is an age of uncertainty and like the Children of Israel we have left it to go after the visions of the bright future outlined in God’s promises. Like Noah we are building for the future while everyone enjoys life as if everything was going to last forever (Matthew 24:38). Many have travelled that way before us, by faith, seeing Him who is invisible, having never received the promises, and like for them, God has provided something better for us (Hebrews 11:27; 39-40) . It is easy to become wary of the way and to desire the lives of others who have settled down for the devil’s arrangements on the planet (Luke 4:6). As we hear the sounds of war, of bankruptcy, and of the general evil around us, let us rebuke that temptation and keep our eyes towards the promises of the ‘World to Come’. When we finally enter the last phase of this Messianic age, when Messiah rules on earth and justice covers the land like water covers the sea. We will then look back and wonder, ‘what did ‘Egypt’ have to offer me anyways!”May it come soon Abba, even in our days!

Revelation 19:11Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.Moses foresaw that the establishment of Judges was not enough for the governance of the emerging country of Israel. A king would also be needed to enforce Torah and the ruling of the judges. There is nothing wrong with authority as long as that authority rules by the Torah. Under the inspiration of the Almighty, Moses commanded the people that any king appointed to rule over them should be a descendant from Jacob (Deuteronomy 17:14-15). It was later understood that the king of Judea should even be a descendant of Judah, maybe because of the prophetic blessing Jacob uttered upon His son Judah (Genesis 49:10). These form a background that is essential if we wish to properly understand the religious politics behind the life, death and resurrection of Yeshua, the true King of the Jews from the lineage of Judah. The king, though the legislative authority of the country, was not above the Torah. He himself had to be obedient to the rulings established by the Great One over whose people he ruled. To remind him of his responsibilities towards God, Moses commands, "… he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, … (Deuteronomy 17: 18-20). Along with being a legislator and a soldier, this king of Israel was to be an expert on Torah matters; he was to live and rule by it. None of the kings of Israel or Judah have attained this level of obedience. The closest one would be David who as a soldier was also a legislator, a prophet, and a priest. The Father led him to build a new Tabernacle on Mt Zion, to revamp the priesthood and create liturgy. This was known as the ‘Tabernacle of David’ (Acts 15:16). But even king David broke the Torah, as we all do.Yeshua is the only One true King of the Jews who is sinless and is the Torah written in flesh. He is the One who did not come to His will but solely the will of the Father. When He comes to judge the world, he will do it according to torah law and He will not take bribes (Deuteronomy 16:19). Even the devil tried it and it didn’t work (Luke 4).Behold, the only true and legitimate King of Israel is coming and He will judge the world in the righteousness and justice of God’s Torah. May it be soon Abba, even in our days."Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega (The Aleph and the Tav), the first and the last, the beginning and the end" (Revelations 22:12-13).

1Timothy 3:1-9If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, … must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.As Israel was organizing itself as an independent nation, it developed the need for a legislative body. It started with Jethro who first advised Moses to appoint seventy elders from among the people. Later, as the second generation prepared to enter the Land, Moses continues the practice and tells the congregation that they should appoint judges over the people to rule over them. This became a commandment. Moses instructs the people that these leaders were to judge using righteous judgment, not pervert justice nor show partiality, and that they were to certainly not accept bribes, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous, the Text tells us. They were to follow justice and only justice, that they may live and inherit the land that the LORD their God is giving them (Deuteronomy 16:18-20). Of course, righteous judgments and justice were to be defined by the principles and morals established in the Torah Itself, so by inference, these people were to also be experts in the knowledge, handling and application of the Torah Texts.After Yeshua’s departure to His and our Father, the Jerusalem congregation finds itself flooded with Pentecost pilgrims (Acts 2), Diaspora Jews and God-fearing Gentiles who after the particular Pentecost events of that year decided to stick around Jerusalem to learn more from the disciples. In order to support these people, the Jerusalem believers established a kibbutz-like system of communal wealth (Acts 2:44-45; 4:32). As the disciples found themselves in the same predicament as Moses by Mt Sinai, they decide that a body of elders should be elected to care for the logistical affairs of the new fledgling congregation (Acts 6). As he went and started congregations in other areas of Asia, Paul also continued the practice. We can read in the apostolic Scriptures some of the advice he gave about the appointment of elders (1 Timothy 3:1-9; Titus 1:5-9).Problems in a congregation seem to stem from mainly two things,: a lack of decisive and wise team-working leadership, or if there is one, the people don’t like it so they don’t respect its advice. The latter can stem for another two reasons: the people are rebellious, or the Spirit of Hashem did not confirm the leadership team in their heart. Corinth is a good show-case of a congregation running amok, where everybody interpreted the Word according to his own mind, and as a result promoted heresies that are still present in today’s believers. They could not even produce a good leader among themselves (1 Corinthians 6:1-6). Today, as many feel disenchanted with corporate congregations, they start forming home-groups. Many of us in the Western world are plagued with an inordinate sense of independence. The problem is that Torah can only be properly practiced in community, not in individuality. As these home-groups grow, Corinth stands a good example of what happens unless Moses’ and the disciples’ advice are followed (Deuteronomy 16:18-20; Acts 6:1-3).Soon, Yeshua will return and Himself rule over His people with a legislative body from among the congregations (Matthew 19:28;Revelation 12:6). May it be soon, Abba, even in our days!

Ephesians 4:4-6There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call-- one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.When the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth revealed Himself to mankind, He thoroughly explained Himself, even to the point of what would seem to us redundancy. He said it, repeated it, and as if to prove His point, He made sure that people recorded the history of both those who obeyed and those who didn’t. If we would take the time to review the spiritual parameters established for us by Abba, we would avoid much confusion.From very early on, there was to be one central place where the Father would write His Name (Deuteronomy 12:5). People could love and worship anywhere, but one place had the altar and the Ark. One place was the spiritual center of the universe: the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Ancient Jewish writings submit that God chose that place for His Name from the times of creation.When the children of Israel entered the land, they saw the pagans build altars, set up poles and worship by trees everywhere they pleased, but God told His people to not follow that example (Deuteronomy 12:2-7). He had one place and one form of worship in mind. This teaches us about centrality and leadership. The way God has it is that He is the Boss, and whereas He may have governors in provinces, His orders come from one central place, and people have to come to place at times of His choosing to worship, to hear Torah, and to offer gifts and tithes, all in the way that He commanded.Abba told the people before entering the Land, "You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, … But when you go over the Jordan … to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: … (Deuteronomy 12:8-11). It is the place where Abraham, through whom all the families of the earth should be blessed, offered Isaac; (Genesis 12:3). It is where Yeshua, who became light to the gentiles and glory to Israel (Luke 2:32) was crucified. It is also in Jerusalem that Mashiach will establish His central global reign on the earth forever. At that time not just Israel, but all nations will be required to come to Zion and attend the Feast of Tabernacles (Zachariah 14:16-19). Gone will be the spiritual anarchic madness of today where everyone likes to interpret the Word according to what is right in his own eyes (Deuteronomy 12:8). One of the saddest verses in the Bible may be ‘In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6; 21:25). The book of Judges is a testament against man left to his own devices without kingly central authority. Our world today is in the same predicament.We are waiting for the King to come and take central authority of His Kingdom. He will come; may it be soon, even in our days! LONG LIVE THE KING OF KINGS!

Philippians 1:27Only let your manner of life be worthy of the Besorah of Mashiach.The Text of the Hebrew Scriptures in Deuteronomy 12 tells us about the reverencing of the Name of God. When the Children of Israel entered the Land, they were to shun all forms of idolatry. God told them to tear down pagan temples and sites, burn trees used for worship, destroys groves; in a sense, to obliterate the name of pagan gods before establishing Hashem’s Name in the Land (Deuteronomy 12:1-4). They were told specifically that they were not to worship Hashem in the way these nations worshipped their idols (Deuteronomy 12:4). This wasn’t meant to be a worldwide campaign against idolatry; these commands were only incumbent to the Land of Canaan the Children were soon to possess (Deuteronomy 12:1). To establish Hashem’s Name on the Land meant to establish His character, His ways defined in the Torah, His culture, and His authority. To obliterate the names of idols was to consequently obliterate their character, ways, culture, and authority.The nations had not yet been introduced to Hashem, so they were allowed to worship other gods like the sun, the moon, and the stars (Deuteronomy 4:19), it wasn’t necessarily a sin to them since they didn’t know any better; it is the way they did it that was despicable unto Adonai (Deuteronomy 12: 30-32). In order to keep Israel as far away as possible from any of the vile idolatrous practices of the Canaanites, God gave very specific instructions as to how He should be honored and worshipped. This teaches us that religion without the instruction of Torah leads to idolatry. As soon as they were in the Land,, they were to implement them in a very detailed manner, and not live according to their own thinking anymore (Deuteronomy 12: 8-11). Of course, the place where God would write His Name would not be fully revealed until the days of King David who purchased the piece of land where the Temple should later be built (2 Samuel 24), a place established by divine decree long before. There is another place where the Father writes His Name: our hearts (Numbers 6:22-27). Yeshua also declares Hashem’s Name in us by revealing to us His character, His ways, His culture, and His authority (John 17:26). As the Children of Israel were to ensure the sanctity of the Name by cleaning the Land of all forms of idol-worship, we should also make sure that the Name of God is sanctified in our hearts by cleansing ourselves from any selfish and proud ways that don’t testify of His presence in us. To claim holding His name while denying it though our daily walk renders us worse than the pagan who doesn’t even know God. This is what Yeshua had against the Pharisees; not their teachings, but their practices. They didn’t walk their talk (Matthew 23:2-3), which is the essence of hypocrisy.Let us not be the same, and may we learn to sanctify God’s name, not just in verbal praises, but in deed and in truth from our hearts.

1Peter 5:5Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."When the Children of Israel entered Canaan, their Almighty God asked them to sanctify the land from all forms of idolatry. They were to ruthlessly and zealously destroy temples, shrines and groves; even sacred trees were to be cut down and burned. If there is anything God is intolerant of, it is idolatry. He is indeed a jealous God who does not allow us to have divided loyalties. It is important to notice though that this commandment specifies ‘In the Land’ and ‘in that place’ (Deuteronomy 12:1-3). It is therefore not incumbent on us to start destroying and defacing idolatrous structures that are not in Israel The only other place where it is pertinent for us to rid ourselves of idols and idolatrous practices is our hearts, and by extension, our homes. The difficulty with that is that it is often much easier to see the idolatry on others that it is in ourselves.Our nature is such that we have a natural tendency to mercifully analyze and rationalize ourselves to ourselves. To see our own lifestyle in its proper perspective requires the same instrument as the one we use to see if our face is clean: a mirror. And in the case of our lifestyle, the ‘mirror’ is the Torah (James 1:23-24). Religion defined by Torah lifestyle is clean from idolatry, but religion away from Torah becomes idolatrous. The other problem is that Torah today is in the form of a written text. One’s culture usually defines his worldview and perspective, which in turn defines his understanding of any written text. To see ourselves as we truly are therefore takes the ‘mirror’ of Torah, but in the form of a brother or a sister (Proverbs 27:17). This brother or sister whom the Holy Spirit will use and speak through in the same manner it spoke through Balaam’s donkey (Numbers 22:28) is usually someone just like ourselves who sees the wrong in us more than in himself. This alls makes for a perfect match because it also requires us to learn submissive humility, which in itself is a pertinent exercise against stubborn and prideful and therefore idolatrous rebellion (1 Samuel 15:23). Many of us don’t mind if God descends from His Great Place to talk to us in a vision or a dream about our problems (that actually feeds our pride), but He usually doesn’t do that; most of the time, He likes to use the agency of an imperfect brother or sister. This reminds me of Naaman, the leprous Syrian general. First, his wife’s young Jewish slave advised him to seek healing from Elisha, the prophet in enemy country. When he arrived there (having first tried to see the king), Elisha would not even see him; he just sent his servant to tell him to go bathe in the dirty Jordan River. Proud Naaman took offense to the whole thing. It is again his own servant who had to bring him to his senses (2 Kings 5).May we learn to look in the Torah in our brothers and sisters. May we, as the apostle says, ‘be quick to hear, slow to speak (James 1:19).

John 4:23But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.Words are so important. Much of our theology seems to be lost in translation. Call it nit-picking if you may, but the exact meaning of words used to describe our service to God in Hebrew should be reflected in our understanding of the Torah, otherwise, we might be led into error. Sad to say though, translations usually reflect the cultural and ethical understanding of the translator, that is why a preliminary knowledge of Hebrew is essential for biblical understanding. Words describe feelings but they also describe tasks we must do. If as manager of a company I give a man some instructions, I expect him to do exactly what I ask. If he disobeys because to him the words I speak have a different meaning, we are going to have problems. We can imagine what happened at the tower of Babel work site when Adonai came to confuse their languages. English has the word ‘worship’. It is a good word but it is a very subjective. It fails to represent a specific action. It can mean anything from the act of singing and praising to charitable giving. In Hebrew there are words for, ‘to give’; ‘to thank’; ‘ to sing’; to pray; ‘to praise’ or to shine something; to ‘magnify’ or to make something bigger in our eyes; ‘to serve’ which means to practice any of the Torah commands; ‘to cleave’ meaning to be glued to something or someone. The one translated as worship is: ‘shacha’, which is to prostrate. To serve (Deuteronomy 10:20) is the word ‘to work’. To serve God means to do the commandments and since many of the commandments are Temple related, Jewish sages have concluded that the act of praising prayer takes the place of temple offerings thus we are taught about the ‘sacrifice of praise’, ‘the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name ‘(Hebrews 13:15). Moses told the people to ‘fear the LORD your God, he said, You shall serve him and hold fast (cleave) to him (Deuteronomy 10:20). Yeshua gave further instructions on this commandment and said, the hour is coming … when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth (John 4:23). This little vocabulary lesson may give extra meaning and sense to Yeshua’s words that can now be understood as ‘the hour is coming when the true ones who obey His commandments will prostrate in spirit and in truth. This statement follows Yeshua telling the Samaritan woman that Samaritans didn’t know what they were doing cause salvation was of the Jews (John 4:22).Yeshua was not saying, as it is usually taught, that Temple worship would be over (how could that be since Ezekiel speaks of a third temple?) but He was prophesying about the soon coming time of Diaspora when all those who worship Adonai would do it using prayers from the heart or the ‘sacrifice of praise’.

Matthew 6:26Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?While in the desert Israel was on God’s complete welfare system. Their food and water was miraculously supplied; the clothes on their back did not wear out and their feet did not swell (Deuteronomy 8:4). Every morning as they prepared food, they handled the bounty of Hashem in their hands and even ate it. It was easy then to have the the natural reaction of blessing God after eating (Deuteronomy 8:10).Now they were going to enter the Land and manna would eventually stop. They were going to have to till the land, sow, harvest, dig wells, irrigate, build houses and even train an army to protect their borders. It would then be easy to forget that Hashem is the Great Provider of all bounties and Protector of His people. and think that all they have is due to their own efforts. Moses warned the children of Israel, For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, …, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, …, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. "Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, … who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.' … And if you forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish (Deuteronomy (8:7-19).This is the age-old cycle: obedience to Torah brings success, success brings complacency, complacency leads to neglect of Torah, and neglect of Torah brings failure. Nations who once succeeded because they strove to be based on the Word are now falling from very high as they forgot the God who allowed them to exist.Poverty may build character but wealth tests it. It is when we don’t feel so dependant of God that our motives are tested. It is like our grown up kids, once they feel they don’t need us, we sometimes don’t hear from them anymore. Someone told me once that if you want your kids to communicate, tell them you sent them a letter with a small check in it, then send the letter ‘forgetting’ to insert the check. God has the big ‘check’ for us, and He also checks our motives! He knows how to slow the faucet of His provisions and remind us that we are but dust. He wants us to love Him not just because of the ‘check’ though, but because we are grateful and are a bride responding to His loving advances towards us.

Matthew 5:45So that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.A great ‘mixed multitude’ accompanied Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 12:38). These were non-Israelite people from different countries who saw the power of the mighty God El-Shaddai in Egypt and cast their lot with Israel. They were the ‘stranger’ in the midst of Israel. From the beginning of times God formulated a redemption plan for humanity. This plan implied for Israel to be chosen as a messenger and birth cradle for its own Redeemer who would also invite the ‘multitude ‘of the nations to come to ‘Mount Horeb’ and eventually to follow Him to ‘Mount Zion’. Israel had been an abused stranger in the land of Egypt and forever the Father wanted that experience to motivate His firstborn (Exodus 4:22) to never abuse the stranger living within its borders. It is actually a commandment for Israel to be loving to the stranger in its midst (Deuteronomy 10:19), and therefore a contingence to its acceptance in the Land of the Almighty. One who is kind to strangers, one who is hospitable imitates God and imitation is the core process of discipleship.On the other hand, the stranger who took refuge under the wings of the God of Israel was required to abide by the ‘Torah’ of the Land. He was not to bring other gods in the Land or to desecrate the Shabbat, the Temple or the holy days. He was also to be careful not to in any ways be a spiritual stumbling block to Israel. In the apostolic Scriptures a non-Jew, whether He is in Messiah or not, is called a Gentile. Today this word has obtained a negative connotation to some but it is because of the way people use it as it is not so in the Bible. The Gentile is simply someone who is not of biological Israelite descent. These come under the blessing of Abraham of whom it was said, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 12:3). That is why gentiles who became Jewish were called ‘Sons of the family of Abraham’ (Acts 13:26). There is actually a mighty blessing for the gentile/stranger who of his own volition adopts to live under the Torah covenant. Isaiah pronounces it in these beautiful words, “Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, "The LORD will surely separate me from his people"; and let not the eunuch say, "Behold, I am a dry tree." For thus says the LORD: "To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. "And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant-- these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, "I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered” (Isaiah 56:3-8).

Romans 4:13For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.Much is revealed about Hashem’s plan for His people in the Book of Deuteronomy. Whereas He says that the prosperous success of our sojourn in the Land of Promise is contingent to our obedience to the Torah, we do not inherit it because of our personal righteousness (Deuteronomy 7:12; 9:4-6). It is partly because the wickedness of the Canaanites was much worse than that of Israel as well as because of the promises made to our fathers. Hashem always keeps His promises.Whereas the idea of proper retribution for good and evil is biblical, it is a mistake to assume that the success of our endeavors is always a divine personal endorsement or that the lack of it is the sign of a curse because of sin. The Book of Job is the testament to the opposite. This notion particularly leads to error when we apply it to our standing with Hashem.The apostle Paul reiterates this concept in his diatribe about the role of Torah in our lives. When he says, For by works of the law (Torah) no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law (Torah) comes knowledge of sin (Romans 3: 20). Paul is not teaching us about a new way God has initiated with his people since the manifestation of Yeshua’s work on earth, but he is teaching us the actual concept of Torah as was taught by Moses in Deuteronomy.I find ludicrous the teaching that because of their sins and so-called rejecting Messiah, God has rejected and replaced the Jewish people with a nation taken from the gentiles. That would be a God who does not keep His promises. If our standing with the Father is a question of personal righteousness, it seems to me that the gentiles deserve to be rejected as much as they would be. Israel as a political entity may have rejected Messiah, but the church throughout time has rejected the Torah that Yeshua taught saying, If you love me you will keep My commandments (John 14:15). Historical records, including those found in the Bible, tell us that the Jewish people actually received Yeshua gladly, that Jerusalem was filled with the apostles' doctrine, so much that the leaders were scared to touch the disciples. The disciples were all Jewish along with the new believers from Acts 2 who were Diaspora Jews coming to Jerusalem for Pentecost. These are the very people, and Jews at that, who brought the Gospel to the area around the Mediterranean Sea, who led the first congregations of believers and taught those so-called Church Fathers who for the most part later rejected their Torah teachings. I thank Hashem that He is a covenant-keeping God. Proof? As He said He would, He has returned the Jewish people to their land and no matter what people may try in their efforts to undo it, Hashem keeps His Promises that after a long exile in the nations He returns to the Promised Land. Those world politicians who try to defeat this purpose better watch out; they may be poking in the apple of God’s eye!